U.S. natural gas futures rose on Friday, supported by expectations of an increase in LNG exports after they dropped last week as Hurricane Laura shut facilities and export plants.
Front-month gas futures rose 10.1 cents, or 4.1%, to settle at $2.588 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).
For the week, the front-month registered its first weekly fall in five and at a decline of 3.5%, its worst performance since the week ended July 17.
"There are some news that the LNG exports demand is about to start picking back up again in the next week or so, as some of the facilities are getting back electricity and ramping up, that's very supportive for the market," said Robert DiDona of Energy Ventures Analysis.
"The market was definitely looking for that demand, after having the big falloff in the exports towards the end of August before the storms hit," he added.
Cheniere Energy, the country's top LNG exporter, and Sempra LNG are expected to resume operations after no major damage was found following Hurricane Laura.
Laura knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas after slamming into the Gulf Coast near the Texas-Louisiana border last week as a major Category 4 storm.
Demand in the Lower 48 states is expected to decline slightly, falling from 83.9 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) this week to 83.6 bcfd in the next, according to Refinitiv.
Refinitiv data indicated 137 cooling degree days (CDDs) in the Lower 48 over the next two weeks, decreasing from 148 CDDs the previous day, but still above the 30-year normal of 126.
CDDs measure the number of degrees a day's average temperature is above 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius) and are used to estimate demand to cool homes and businesses.